Rayon and Clara stood against one another in the field. All the students were eager to watch them fight.
"This is the fight of the century folks. We have Clara – the unstoppable force versus Rayon – the immovable object. Who will win? Place your best right here." Ciaran was pumping up the crowd by creating a betting ring.
The odds were eight to two in Clara's favor. Most thought the boy would give up halfway through. He was gentle even with strangers, and it was no secret the two were close.
"Fight me properly or suffer from your own hubris Ray." She told him.
The boy nodded and then they both got into position. Just as the teachers gave the signal, Clara engulfed herself in light and blinked in front of Rayon giving him a nasty kick in the stomach. The boy ricocheted back and rolled on the ground. All the air was stolen from his lungs.
"What did I just say punk? Again, and this time don't you dare hold back." She yelled at him.
Rayon caught as he was struggling to get back up. It took him a solid ten seconds before he did.
He looked at her and said nothing.
'I really should start listening to Rony when he warns me of things like this.'
His brother told him to at least put his guard up for real, and the boy wished he had listened sooner. He took a new stance.
The Muay Thai stance involves standing with feet shoulder-width apart, with one foot slightly forward and the other foot turned slightly inward. The knees are bent, and the hands are held up near the face, with elbows close to the body.
It was the more personalized style his teachers in the military camp had taught him. In the elite unit, the soldiers were treated as individuals, rather than as different parts of the same unit. They still had group training, but their needs when it came to the martial path were met individually.
Every soldier in that unit was expected to reach greatness, and as such they were taught how to be true Warriors. Rayon had reached Rank One due to the artificial procedure humanity had come up with, but in the last year, he had been taught how to truly be a Rank One.
The ground under his feet moved. It covered him in a thin layer of dirt. Now he looked more like a rock golem than a boy, but his presence changed completely.
"The Boy hardened and the girl shined. Will Clara outshine her opponent or will he use his rock-hard new self to pound her into the ground? It's still not too late, bet now and win big." Ciaran was still pumping up the crowd, while Sunny was counting the money they had collected.
Elizabeth was going through the Academy's Rulebook trying to find anything in regards to gambling or betting, but such a rule was yet to be invented, as no one from the younger classes had done things like this before, and older kids had done worse things.
Ariadne on the other hand was insisting Ciaran take a language lesson so he would fix his phrasing. The boy looked inside his soul where the spider was still chastising him, but the poor boy just couldn't understand. She had nothing against what he was doing, just how he phrased his words, and he found nothing wrong with the way he spoke.
'Come on Ari it's just to dramatize the fight a little. There is no harm done.' The boy pleaded.
The spider sighted and told him they would work it out in the future.
Back in the field, the two fighters were seizing each other up. Suddenly Clara disappeared again, and this time she launched an attack from behind. A swift low kick right to the shin.
Rayon didn't even try to defend, he just span his torso and elbowed her right on the nose.
Clara disappeared after both hits landed, but when she reappeared she stumbled and fell to her side, her nose bleeding.
The boy didn't give her the courtesy of waiting for her to get up, he dashed for her, gliding on the Earth so he could achieve a higher speed. He was aiming for a tackle.
The boy realized using his Earth as a sonar, that she wasn't appearing and disappearing, she was just moving really fast and was using her Light to trick their eyes.
'If I pin her to the ground I win.'
He used his top speed, and almost made contact, but just before he caught her she disappeared.
He couldn't feel her anywhere, and worse still he was going too fast and ramming himself into a tree, taking it down with him.
The trees in the field were Rank One material, being able to take a massive tree down meant he was using almost lethal force.
The betters were now placing new bets, and the ratio changed to six to four for Rayon.
The boy was looking for his opponent, but she was nowhere to be found. Then he thought of something and looked up.
"Clever, you got it right." He heard before she reappeared with a tornado kick to his temple. She was standing on light constructs, which essentially allowed her to avoid stepping on the ground.
Light users just like Wind users preferred using piercing attacks rather than swinging ones. She had used her full force behind that kick, but because she lacked the mass, and the distance to accelerate, the damage the boy took wasn't as bad as it could be.
Still, his brain got shaken quite a bit, and his legs trembled slightly. Not only had he suffered some brain damage from that, but his opponent was now standing above ground. Without her physically touching the ground he had lost his biggest advantage.
If it was not for his enchanted defense, he would probably be having dreams right now. He looked at her and smiled. He loved the fact that his friend could put him in such a state. It meant that he wouldn't outgrow them too fast.
His army buddies were all older than him, and they all warned him that he was too strong for his age. That he would leave all of his classmates in the dust, while he soared higher and higher.
'Wait, that's it.'
He yelled and smashed his foot on the ground. A cloud of dust rose up in the air. He couldn't really tell what was what, but he still felt it. It was a last-ditch effort but at least it didn't leave him helpless.
"Nice trick. Let me show you a real technique." She said and rose a little higher while widening the distance between them. Then she took a deep breath and disappeared.
The next moment the dust in the air was cut in two and the girl was in front of Rayon. He put on his guard just in time, but then he saw it. This Clara became blurry, and another one appeared slightly above her. With no time to adjust his guard, he got smashed in the face with a literal flying knee.
He flew back hard. One of the teachers caught him, as he was already unconscious, and they didn't want him to suffer any more damage.
Then they declared Clara the winner.
"There you have it ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner. I am sorry for those of you who bet on His rocky majesty, but don't you worry, there will surely be a rematch. Besides it's not about who won, it's about making a spectacle of it, and what a show we were treated to. Does our winner have any words for her fans?" Ciaran had embraced his role as a commentator, and most of the teachers found it amusing enough to let it pass.
"You want to try me for a ride after your brother Rony? I am not yet completely satisfied." She told him.
He refused and gave an excuse that he must have eaten too much at lunch as his stomach hurt.
Ariadne on the other hand cursed out inside his soul, as she went through Ciaran's memories and realized it was Clara who had taught him to speak like that. And unlike him, she knew exactly what she was doing.
She couldn't bring herself to explain it to the boy, but she didn't stop cursing the girl and all of her rotten ancestry up to eighteen generations back.
The boy thought his familiar just didn't want to fight such a brutally strong opponent and he completely agreed.
Then Clara looked at Sunny and shouted.
"Hey Sunny, you win, I don't feel like fighting anymore today. Ray made it too dusty anyway."
And like that, to the protest of mostly everyone, the first day of the new School Year ended. Ciaran was happy, even though they made him ranked eight because he refused to fight. Now that he was back in the Maze and had let out Ari once again, he could finally breathe.
"Today was quite an eye-opening. I don't know if I can take Ray on in a straight fight, but Clara would be a straight loss."
Ari looked at him a bit confused. Shure she could fly and had good stealth, but so did he.
"You don't get it, girl. That fight looked closer than it actually was. Most didn't notice because it was so flashy, but I did. From start to finish, the whole thing lasted exactly five minutes."